Nicaragua severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan on Thursday, pledging allegiance to Beijing and diminishing Taipei's dwindling pool of overseas allies.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed "deep sadness" early Friday over Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's decision to "disregard the friendship" of the Taiwanese people.
"As of today, the government of the Republic of Nicaragua has terminated diplomatic relations with Taiwan and ceased all contact and official contacts," Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said in a televised announcement on Thursday.
Chinese official media said that Chinese and Nicaraguan government leaders would meet in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin on Friday.
Nicaragua's statement reduces the number of countries worldwide that have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan to slightly more than a dozen, including Central American neighbors Honduras and Guatemala.
Taiwan's administration took a defiant stance. Taiwan's foreign ministry stated that "as a member of the international community, Taiwan has the right to exchange and build diplomatic relations with other countries."
Taiwan, formerly known as the Republic of China, represented China in the United Nations from 1945 to the early 1970s.
At the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War, its government withdrew to the island.
Since the 2000s, China has rapidly eroded Taiwan's remaining friends, which consist primarily of minor Caribbean, South American, and Pacific Island countries, as well as the Holy See.
Although Taiwan and China have been governed separately for almost seven decades, Beijing regards the democratic island of 24 million people as part of its territory and has often proclaimed its desire for "reunification," despite the fact that Taiwan has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.
China maintains that Taiwan is a province with no claim to statehood and has increased pressure on Taiwan's remaining allies, particularly in Central America and the Caribbean, with El Salvador and the Dominican Republic defecting to Beijing in 2018 and Panama the year before.
The breach with Taiwan is a setback for the U.S. It comes after months of deteriorating relations between Ortega and Washington, and on the same day the U.S. State Department announced sanctions against Nestor Moncada Lau, Ortega's national security adviser, claiming he is involved in an import and customs fraud scheme aimed at enriching members of Ortega's administration.
Taiwan's constitution retains a formal claim on mainland China, but the country has largely abandoned that position since its democratic transition.
Taiwan lost two allies in short succession in September 2019 when the Solomon Islands and Kiribati defected to Beijing.
